While hunting through old CD’s and recordings, I found a copy of Strange Fruit Recordings: a collection of John Peel recordings from 1992. It is something I haven’t listened to in a few years and I was suddenly reminded of a song that I clearly remember changing my listening habits.
I purchased this, on both vinyl and CD, namely for the 3 Smashing Pumpkins songs that appear on this recording. Even though I had these on the Peel Sessions EP that was released by Virgin/Hut in the early 90′s, this was another collectable for the collection (mainly because the vinyl is limited to 5000 copies).
I honestly didn’t care (or know) the other bands on the compilation. Verve, Moose and Revolver were unknowns. I remember as my ears ventured past Siva, Smiley and the Animals cover of Girl Named Sandoz I was met with the shoegaze sound of a little known UK band – Revolver. At the time I wasn’t that into “that scene” but I still put it down to this song being one of those songs that made me venture and explore this sound. I was really interesting with the simple and dreamy sound, mix with the strong vocals.
The song is simply titled, Wave and as the name suggests the song builds and builds just like the waves in the ocean before quietly fading off. It is these little songs, by little known bands that can sometimes be forgotten. So enjoy this little find, I suggest tracking down the rest of their work you might enjoy it.
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Revolver:
As for the band, Revolver were a London based guitar band in existence from 1990-1994, comprising of Mat Flint (guitar/vocals), Hamish Brown (bass) and Nick Dewey (drums). Flint and Dewey had been in school bands together, and when the two moved to London in the autumn of 1990 met Brown who completed the line-up.
The band, after attracting attention from several record labels, including Dedicated, One Little Indian, and Creation Records, signed to the Virgin Records subsidiary Hut Records in the summer of 1991. The band quickly picked up a following, supporting the likes of Chapterhouse, Slowdive, Teenage Fanclub and Blur, and gained a lot of press coverage, most notably in NME, Melody Maker and The Face. Their first single, “Heaven Sent An Angel” topped the UK independent charts, as did the follow-up “Crimson”, and the third single “Venice”. The band specialised in bright, abrasive guitar-pop songs with strong melodies, and were determined (but ultimately failed) to distinguish themselves from the other guitar bands of the era. The UK press lumped them in with the shoegazing movement, a tag that the band weren’t comfortable with.
A compilation of these first 3 singles was released in the States as “Baby’s Angry” on Caroline Records, and gained the band airplay on US college radio. The band toured America in the autumn of 1992, on a co-headlining tour with fellow Caroline Records act Drop Nineteens.
In 1993, Revolver released the single “Cradle Snatch”, closely followed by the album Cold Water Flat, and while the songs were more sophisticated than their earlier work, the sales weren’t as impressive, and Virgin dropped the band after a final single “I Wear Your Chain” failed to make the top 75. The band split up at the beginning of 1994, after failing to sign a deal with another label.
Mat Flint went on to play bass guitar for Death In Vegas from 1996 onwards, and has released a single “Commodity” with his new band Deep Cut in May 2007, on Club AC30 Records.
